Take Your Plane and…

This morning, TSA searches are #1 on the google news list, no doubt because John Tyner’s video went viral. Mr. Tyner, thank you for an heroic deed.

Yesterday CBS News reported a poll (taken between November 7 and November 10) in which 8 out of 10 of the 1,137 adults surveyed answered the following question “Yes”:

“Should Airports Use Full-Body X-Ray Machines?”

The 15 percent who disapproved of the x-ray machines adds up to a considerable number of adult Americans, at least 34 million. (That’s 15 percent of the 73 percent of the 310 million Americans who are over the age of 20.) Those who recently approved of imposing even more nationalized health care on Americans claimed to be terribly worried about 40 million uninsured Americans. Are they equally concerned about the 34 million who have no good choices when it comes to air travel?

These machines are new. Their operations at airports are new. Information about their negatives has not spread through the population. Information about their violation of the supreme Law of the Land and about their radiation hazards has not been fully disseminated throughout the population. Almost no information has been publicized or discussed about alternatives to the x-ray machines, such as screening and profiling on the basis of other non-physical information. There has not been a widespread public debate about the use of these machines. Consequently, this poll is at best a snapshot of uninformed opinion.

Poll results depend on how questions are framed. If the question had been put in different ways, the results may have been considerably different. For example: